Quick Hits: Pirates, Upton, Angels, Wright, Mets

“I don’t think it’s ever fair to speculate on people’s jobs … My approach has always been to fully support the team we have in place, and when it’s time to make a change, we make a change," said Pirates owner Bob Nutting to Rob Biertempfel and Karen Price of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review when asked if there would be any front office or coaching staff changes after the season.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com surveyed four MLB execs about B.J. Upton's free agent outlook, and their estimates varied greatly. A National League GM predicted sees a three-year, $27MM deal for Upton while the other estimates ranged from four years at $50MM to five years at $70MM. The Rangers, Nationals, Phillies, Braves, Red Sox, Yankees, Reds, Giants, and Cubs are among the teams that could be in need of outfield help this winter.

Dave Cameron of Fangraphs believes that the Mets should exercise David Wright's option rather than extend him given his second-half slump. By picking up his reasonably-priced $16MM option, the Mets could buy themselves more time and properly evaluate whether he is worth a hefty extension.

Comments

The Seattle Mariners are also among the teams that need outfield help this winter. In fact, they probably need TWO outfielders. Wondering whether they could trade for Justin Upton, which might make Seattle a more attractive place for BJ to sign…

You guys could put a good offer together if you wanted Justin Upton bad enough. Nick Franklin could fill SS for us soon and you could give us one of your bonafide pitching prospects and other pieces… but I don’t think the Mariners are interested at the price that would be required.

I think the Mariners would do a deal with Nick Franklin. They really like Brad Miller who this year hit a combined .334 with 15 HR and 68 RBI between A+ and AA. They also have another infielder named Stefen Romero who also could play SS. Romero also split time between A+ and AA this year hitting .352 with 23 HR and 101 RBI. I don’t think they would do a deal with Franklin and one of their top three pitching prospects.

Depends on how they project the players in the future. Franklin gives you several more years of control and could have better offensive potential but he is a “prospect” and they can fail where as Andrus is a proven big league SS.

Meh, depends on the contract. Upton is already 28 and can barely get his obp over .300. Swisher is a better player, he doesn’t have as good tools, but he gets on base more, and has more power. Paying upton 5/70M is crazy overpay, and I would rather they just resign swisher if they are paying that much. Sure he could always become the player everyone thought he would become, but at 28 there is a greater than 50% chance he is on the downward slope offensively. People look at B.J.’s speed and 20 hr power and think he is a great player, but for NYY a .300 obp will not fly at the top of the lineup, he would probably end up being their 7th or 8th worst hitter, and should get paid like that.

For all of grandy’s struggles this year, Upton is way worse
Upton: .250/.302/.448
Grandy: .234/.322/.490
And if granderson’s k’s annoy you, upton still has 150 so on the year.

sure he is better defensively than grandy, but a cheaper move than upton would be just having gardner in center, and shifting granderson to left.

i doubt the cubs go after upton. the only free agent signings they’ll be making are more paul maholm and reed johnson types. esp when it’s virtually assured bjax will get 2013 to show what he can do. not to mention almora was just drafted as a top 10 pick this year. the person polled who suggested the cubs is prob bj upton’s agent.

@Blue387
Mets won’t extend Wright unless he has a monster year next year. Wilpons know that he loves NY, and will hope that he will give them a ‘home town discount’, everything being equal. Otherwise, they’ll be content to risk him hitting the FA market.

also Wilmer Flores has been moved to 3B and had another good year…he’s 22 yrs old now..and may be ready for the show soon…

would have loved to see Reyes and Wright retire as Mets….but letting reyes go put a defensively inferior Tejada at SS and an even more inferior Murph at 2B…combine that with a young inexperienced catcher like thole…and i saw the recipe for disaster coming for this season….having reyes at SS, Tejada at 2B, Murph at 3B, Wright in RF, Duda in LF, Ike at 1B would’ve given the mets a better defensive up the middle combo…and a legit leadoff hitter all year in Reyes….( FYI Reyes in a down year still leads ALL MLB SS in BB/SB and is top 5 in almost every offensive stat )

I probably would trade Wright not b/c the mets cant afford him…if they can trade him for a package that includes a legit CF or C or even SS ( Profur or Machado ), i do that move in a heartbeat…

If the mets are creative and find a way to make a 3 way trade…maybe to a team that has prospects/players that someone else needs…it can happen…

Murph doesnt have alot of power …but neither does Wright…

the elephant in the room is that the mets changed the dimensions SPECIFICALLY for Wright and he is still under producing in that dept…

Since 2008…the only season where he even approached 25+ was 2010…when the park had BIGGER dimensions than it does now..

so we cant even say its the park anymore…we cant say its the back injury…or the concussion from 2009…saying its a matter of protection is weak…esp when u consider Ike Davis is headed towards 30 HR this year…

you are right …david alone wouldnt be able to bring back a top 5 prospect

David Wright will not negotiate mid season, so if the Mets do not extend him this off season he will reach free agency or be traded. Either way the Mets will not have him in the future. This is just a bad idea.

An extension for Wright is worth it for the Mets regardless of his production simply because of his worth to the franchise. If he goes, they’re set back another 5 years in rebuilding and will replace the Astros as the joke of the National League. The team’s attendance would plummet and ownership may be forced to sell, hopefully to someone more financially responsible.

I disagree 100%. Attendance would be down but they definitely wouldn’t be set back. Investing a player now will not benefit a team that isn’t built to win now. Maybe it will be beneficial if they can put a core around him but that is a big if. If they trade him they can get 2-3 solid young position players to go with the depth they have in their rotation. If they can fit that with a bullpen the Mets can be a force in a year or two. But right now, Wright is the only threat in that lineup and unless someone develops miraculously quickly or they magically find money to sign a free agent, there is no one around Wright to justify an urgency to resign him

I think they could get a pretty big haul for Wright assuming they ate some of that 16M. I don’t know what kind of extension he would want is the problem. Unless he miraculously turns around his second half it will be his 3rd out of 4 past years with less than 20 hr. He is a solid player but if he wants 17M+ a season that is a bit much, it all depends what he thinks he is worth. As a general trend his power has gone way down since his earlier years, so has his obp.

If Wright goes, they would definitely draw poor attendance as they did in the 70’s and 80’s. Especially now with how tickets are sold. If they trade Wright, they literally have no lineup. Davis has good potential but he’s only proven it in one season. If has repeats of this season where he’s awful in the first half, then he’s not a player to build around in a lineup. They don’t have any player in the minor leagues that’s expected to become a run-producer type. So they’re going to have to get a prospect like that in return but I don’t see teams willing to pay that price.

Wright is the most streaky player in baseball, half of each season he hits nothing and the other half he hits everything. Hard to win with that type of player. usually he goes 2 weeks on then 2 weeks off, this year he has taken it to an extreme. That is not worth $120 million , maybe $80 million but if they give him $120+ they will never win a world series until he is gone

NYC is all about winning. If Wright is on the team and they stink…as they currently do…they will have poor attendance…as they currently do…
If they win….Jabba the hut could be at 3B and it wouldnt matter…

“regardless of his production” would turn very ugly if Wright is getting 20 mil per year to put 19 HR’s and 85 RBI’s for a 75 win team.

Just curious…why do u feel he should get extended “regardless of his production”?

In some cases, a player’s value is worth more than his production on the field. Wright is one of those players. I don’t believe he should get some absurd contract like 10 years, $250M, but 6 or even 7 years wouldn’t be total bust.

Wright should be traded for sure. He’s not a superstar, but will require superstar money. Meanwhile, the Mets do not have the prospects to develop a strong team around him. They’d be better off picking up the option and trading him for some nice prospects.

agree, Wright previously was a very good player, but unless he turns it around 3 of past 4 years he has failed to hit more than 20 hr a season. He still is one of the better 3B in the game. He isn’t nearly as good as beltre or cabrera, but he is still better than headley, freese, zimmerman, arod, alvarez, etc. Unless Youk’s option isn’t picked up there are no everyday 3B available. The biggest problem is that aside from the Phillies, A’s, and Braves I really don’t see any of the contenders needing a 3B. The braves can’t afford that type of salary, and are they willing to trade in their division?

They could probably get a top pitching prospect from Arizona for Wright. I think he has a house in Phoenix and they’re a playoff team with him. Depending on what an extension would cost they’d give up more.